Get to Know Our Cast: Livia, Amy, Michael, and Clare

by jessw on April 19, 2017

Join us behind the scenes and get to know our amazing cast of 13 women and men with mother stories to share! We asked them to tell us some of their funniest moments, hope-filled wishes, what their favorite books, music, and shows are, and more!

Livia Johnson

Livia and her husband, Torben

Favorite album and why:

My favorite album is “Graceland” by Paul Simon. I used to watch a lot of music videos when I was little and the video for “You Can Call Me Al” was my favorite. If you haven’t seen it, it is Paul Simon and Chevy Chase running around, playing instruments. I was shocked when my mom told me that the short guy was actually Paul Simon.

When did you first start thinking about your mother as an individual person and not just “mom”?

The moment I thought of my mama as a real person was the summer after my first year of teaching. My dad was on a fishing trip so I went to my hometown to hang out with my mom. She found a recipe for grilled veggie sandwiches with feta cheese and we made them for supper. We read in bed together and took a few long walks. When I was driving home to La Crosse, I realized my mom was my friend. I had so much fun just hanging out with her. We were just a couple of grown-ups, gushing about how much we love “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and enjoying a weekend together.

What do you wish most for your child?

My big wish for my son is that he is always the kid who is nice. I hope he is creative and hardworking and knows how to play at least two songs on the piano really well, too, but if he could only be one thing, I want it to be nice. I hope he is the kind of kid who teachers can put next to weird kids because they know my kid is going to find something to love about them. I hope that when he thinks of a hilarious, but really cutting, remark, he has the courage to keep it to himself. I hope that when he walks away from a new group of people, they all think, “Man, that is a really nice kid”.

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Amy Sanwick

Amy and the Sisters, Daughters, and Granddaughters of her Family

Tell us about an interest you have.

I love musicals. All sorts. I still believe in unicorns and faeries.

When did you first know that your family wasn’t quite like other families?

When my child was licking the shopping cart handle at Wal*mart and a lady gasped all horrified, I replied “God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt.” And rolled away.

What is the craziest thing you remember saying to your children?

Sometimes…. I tell my children that adoption is still an option.

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Michael Scott

What do you like to do for your kids?

I was a full time Dad for over 10 years. Aside from a long list of culinary achievements, my resume includes constructing a Whiffleball field. There is a raised mound, a permanent home plate and carefully painted white foul lines. It is complete with lights for night games and a chalk scoreboard.

In the winter that space used to become a 40×60 foot skating rink. I don’t build rinks anymore and prefer to skate on the marsh at Myrick. If you’ve never built an ice rink, know that equal parts water and swearing go into the endeavor.

Tell us about your hobbies.

I am a lover of the outdoors. I have done touring sea kayaking trips in the Pacific Northwest, the Apostle Islands, Mexico, and the Lofoten Islands off the coast of Norway, 200 miles above the arctic circle. My absolute favorite place to paddle is right here at home in the Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge.

I also love hiking, backpacking and bicycling. My youngest son and I also do winter camping with our lowest overnight coming in at 8 degrees Fahrenheit.

What do you wish most for your children?

I am an amateur ornithologist and am proud to say my daughter holds two medals, a silver and a bronze, from an Owl Calling competition.

I hope I pass my love of nature to my children. Funny story, when my daughter was five years old, she put a caterpillar in a jar with leaves and a stick. After a few days the caterpillar was hanging from the top of the stick and she came to me, all excited, and said, ‘Dad, look! It’s about to become a raccoon.”

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Clare Wight

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever said to your children?

There are so many things I never thought I would say to children. Too many to remember (and that’s why I always wanna kick myself for not having written them down as I said them), but a few goodies that come to mind are: “yes, your teeth are for biting, but brother’s fingers are not food”, “we don’t throw lego houses at each other, pieces are ok, but if you throw the house you’ll both be crying and I’ll go crazy”, “put that sister-whacking device (aka light saber) away or I’ll break it into a million pieces and not even the force will fix it”, “your grape juice is like mommy’s wine, but my wine is much, much better”, “please climb down from the roof of the car slowly so you don’t break or scratch yourself or it – I don’t know which one would be more expensive to fix”, “dogs lick their buttholes all the time and don’t brush teeth, so remember that when you’re kissing grandma’s dog.”

How do you define motherhood?

The best definition of motherhood I’ve ever heard was “motherhood is having your heart beat outside of your chest”. To me, motherhood is being selfless, to automatically put someone else’s happiness before yours always, because theirs is what truly makes you the happiest. It is constantly wondering if you’re doing the right thing. It is being invaded by this insane wave of overwhelming, unconditional love (and along with it, a series of never-ending worries) like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. From the second you find yourself responsible for that fragile little life, until pretty much forever.

What do you like to do as a family?

One of my favorite hobbies is geocaching as a family. We always have a blast. Caching (essentially treasure hunting with GPS coordinates) always gets us out of the house, exploring nature, staying active, while having fun and working as a team. We look for caches everywhere we go, which makes road trips a lot more interesting. We also love finding new caches nearby, and are always surprised that we’ve been driving/walking by them for years and never knew they were there because we didn’t know to look for them. And our favorite part is ending up in places (parks, trails, caves) we never knew existed until geocaching navigated us there.